Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you, Deputy Minister, for your statement, and this is something I welcome as a step in the right direction. There's a sentence in the statement that causes me some concern. You said that during the pandemic care workers had started to receive the broader recognition they deserve for the important role that they play in providing care...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. First Minister, thank you for your statement, but let me tell you where I think this plan of yours starts to unravel. To me, it's in the very first sentence of the foreword. The question you ask in that first sentence is this: how can our union be made strong and durable? Surely, the key question a First Minister of Wales should be asking is how can the interests of...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: That was a very long list of excuses as to why the Government hasn't taken the action, in over 20 years, that could at least show us that Wales is serious about tackling child poverty. But, from child poverty to the housing injustice that I was talking about, from economic injustice to lower wages in Wales—universal credit, then, has been a disaster to families in Wales. Devolution can and...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: First Minister, one word struck me there: 'normal', 'normality'—something we all are looking forward to, in many ways, in the context of this pandemic. But poverty has become far too normal; child poverty has become far too normal, from way before the days of the pandemic. The Children's Commissioner for Wales yesterday said that children's poverty is the biggest challenge facing your...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, Llywydd. The latest report of the Bevan Foundation, published today, is sobering for anyone. I hope it will awaken this Government to see the impact of poverty on our communities—issues that have come to the fore during the pandemic. It shows clearly the very deep inequality in our society: one in every 10 homes without certainty regarding the future of the roof above...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I felt compelled to make a contribution to this debate, largely because, like Jane, I have been struck by the tone of much of what I have heard here today. Maybe it's his naturally jovial temperament, but I almost thought Darren Millar was just enjoying this—rubbing our faces in it, if you like, five years on from that referendum result. There were serious consequences to that result. We...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you, Minister. You'll know that I have drawn attention on several occasions to the lack of appropriate property for food production in Ynys Môn. I've pushed for investment of that kind, and I've appreciated meetings with you and officials on this in the past. But we are still seeing company after company having to retrofit business units to make them appropriate for food production....
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 1. Will the Minister make a statement on Welsh Government efforts to promote the food sector in Ynys Môn? OQ56632
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Will the Minister make a statement on how the tax on second homes is being implemented?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, Deputy Llywydd. I have four or five questions. First of all, following on from that final point you just made: do you have an update for us on the work that is being done in order to ensure that the booster vaccine can be provided in the autumn in accordance with what the JCVI has suggested is required? Pushing that second dose out there as quickly as possible is crucial...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: And of course we need to refer people to the right kind of support, but we can't play down the importance of specialist CAMHS services either. And there was an increase in referrals in the first four months of this year compared to last year. But the Senedd's Children, Young People and Education Committee did a lot of work on the impact of the pandemic, and in particular highlighted this...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: There is, of course, pressure on specialist CAMHS services during the pandemic, but this isn't a new problem. Figures that have just been published demonstrate that in August 2019 almost half of those that received a referral for specialist CAMHS services were waiting over four weeks. I think in Cardiff and Vale it was 85 per cent. But where is the response to that? We see an increase and...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, Llywydd. First Minister, around a year ago, you were announcing that schools were to reopen again after a long lockdown, but, of course, we know how much feeling isolated, being separated from friends has had a heavy impact on the well-being and mental health of young people. Now, throughout the pandemic, the proportion of young people waiting over four weeks for an...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: We will be supporting these regulations. We’re clearly in a place where the number of restrictions is relatively low, so now we are asking the Government to continue to push the boundaries as to what can be done in terms of lifting these restrictions, but we of course support the principle of only doing those things that we know are safe. There are two or three questions that I wish to...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, Deputy Llywydd. I will wear two hats, possibly, at this point—yes, as Plaid Cymru spokesperson on health and care, but also as joint chair, since earlier today, of a new cross-party group established here in the Senedd, which I jointly chair with the Member for Caerphilly. We could see that the scale of the problem was so great that we needed a platform within this...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Llywydd, this Parliament will—. Dirprwy Lywydd, this Parliament will understand what I mean when I, as a Plaid Cymru Member, say that I fear we are currently limiting our ambitions as a nation. We have different viewpoints on the potential offered by independence. In our vision of a Wales that can build its own relationships with other nations in these islands and beyond, we look towards...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 'Finally we get a hint of a programme from the First Minister',
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Those were the words of the Western Mail at that time. And the headline was,
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 'Is that all you've got, First Minister?'
Rhun ap Iorwerth: So, perhaps I'll ask something similar in a slightly different way. As a list of valid and praiseworthy ambitions, there's a great deal that I would agree with in this programme. There are many ideas that I recognise from Plaid Cymru's recent manifesto even, and the values, the fundamental values set out, are ones that I share: principles of collaboration and co-operation not competition; a...
